Florence- Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Paul W. Shockley
January 27, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: All right, well, it’s January 27, 2010 and we are at the home of Mr. Paul Shockley in Florence, Alabama and Mr. Shockley is a World War II veteran. He had fourteen years in the service and so, we’re just gonna talk to him for a little while about his service. Mr. Shockley, I’ll start out and ask you, ‘ when and where were you born?’
Paul Shockley: I was born in Albertville, Alabama, that’s Marshall County and I was born in December 14, 1928.
CA: Okay.
PS: But I changed my birth certificate and it appears 1926 cause I’m either eighty- one years old or I’m eighty- three, whichever one you want to pick.
CA: So, you get to choose which one you want, huh?
PS: Yeah.
CA: Oh, me. That’s pretty good. Well, you, ah, were your parents, were they farmers? What did they do for a living?
PS: Well, my family was mostly school teachers, in the educational field. My grandfather and my mother and my sister and her daughter and my great niece all have doctor’s degrees in education, so I guess we’d be classified as being in the educational field. I’m the only one that didn’t finish high school and didn’t get an education, until later years.
CA: So you came from a family of teachers it’s safe to say.
PS: Yeah and a combination farmers and teachers. My grandfather owned a lot of land and he had sharecroppers and we farmed the land, too.
CA: Well, can you tell me, what, what were you doing before you entered World War II, before you entered the service?
PS: I was staying with my grandfather in a place called Oleander, Alabama. It’s a rural, country community twelve miles south of the parkway in Huntsville, between Huntsville and Arab on a farm with my grandfather and I was taking care of him. Me and him lived together. His wife, my grandmother, had died and they sent me over to take care of him.
CA: So, that’s your, your mother’s father—?
PS: Yeah.
CA: — you were staying with?
PS: Yeah.
CA: Okay. And you were just helping him out on, on his land there?
PS: Well, yeah. And taking care of him, you know.
CA: Um- hm. Okay. Did you have any other family members who entered the military at that time?
PS: Yeah, my brother was drafted in the Navy and my brother- in- law had been in the Army about five years when the war broke out.
CA: Well, when did you join?
PS: I joined the nineteenth of May of ’ 44.
CA: And you joined the Merchant Marine then?
PS: Yeah, I joined the, they called it the, the Maritime Service and they sent you to training and when you graduated training you become a Merchant Marine and you shipped out on a ship at that time.
CA: Is there any reason you wanted to be in the Merchant Marine?
PS: Well, I’d tried all the other services and that was the only thing I could get in.
CA: So you were just eager to serve then.
PS: Yeah, I was eager to serve, patriotic and that was the only thing I could get in, so I took it.
CA: Okay. And you were, ah, fifteen at the time?
PS: Yeah. I’d just turned fifteen.
CA: Well, did you, you said that you had to go through some training in the Merchant Marines, did you—
PS: Yeah.
CA: — did you go through that training?
PS: Oh, yeah.
CA: Did you? PS: I, I completed the training.
CA: Okay.
PS: And went aboard a ship.
CA: Do you remember where the training took place?
PS: Yeah. Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, New York.
CA: Well, what kind of things did they, did you learn in boot camp? Did you, ah—
PS: All of seamanship, same as the Navy and the Coast Guard and all. It was all basically the same thing.
CA: Yeah.
PS: Just how to serve on board a ship, you know.
CA: Um- hm. Did you have a specialization? Did you have a job that you did?
PS: I was, I was a seaman. Just a basic seaman.
CA: You, did you actually ship out with the Merchant Marine after that?
PS: Yeah, I shipped out. I went to the North Atlantic, three days out of New York.
CA: Now, you were telling me the other day that your mother got the Red Cross to take you out of the Merchant Marine.
PS: Yeah.
CA: Could you tell me about that a little bit?
PS: Yeah. At that particular time in the early part of ’ 44 the U—, German U- boats was sinking most every ship that left out of New York. There was so many being sunk that she went to the Red Cross and, and got me out.
CA: So did they send a, did they send a man to the ship to get you off the ship?
PS: Yeah. My, my ship, that I was on was sunk by a German U- boat and I was picked up and sent back to Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach and, ah, that’s where the Red Cross found me and, and got me a discharge and sent me on my way back home. Bought me a train ticket and put me on a train.
CA: So, you, you went back to your, your mother; is that who you went back to?
PS: Yeah.
CA: Okay. Ah—
PS: And then very shortly after that I went back in the Coast Guard; I got in the Coast Guard.

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Transcriptions

Florence- Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Paul W. Shockley
January 27, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: All right, well, it’s January 27, 2010 and we are at the home of Mr. Paul Shockley in Florence, Alabama and Mr. Shockley is a World War II veteran. He had fourteen years in the service and so, we’re just gonna talk to him for a little while about his service. Mr. Shockley, I’ll start out and ask you, ‘ when and where were you born?’
Paul Shockley: I was born in Albertville, Alabama, that’s Marshall County and I was born in December 14, 1928.
CA: Okay.
PS: But I changed my birth certificate and it appears 1926 cause I’m either eighty- one years old or I’m eighty- three, whichever one you want to pick.
CA: So, you get to choose which one you want, huh?
PS: Yeah.
CA: Oh, me. That’s pretty good. Well, you, ah, were your parents, were they farmers? What did they do for a living?
PS: Well, my family was mostly school teachers, in the educational field. My grandfather and my mother and my sister and her daughter and my great niece all have doctor’s degrees in education, so I guess we’d be classified as being in the educational field. I’m the only one that didn’t finish high school and didn’t get an education, until later years.
CA: So you came from a family of teachers it’s safe to say.
PS: Yeah and a combination farmers and teachers. My grandfather owned a lot of land and he had sharecroppers and we farmed the land, too.
CA: Well, can you tell me, what, what were you doing before you entered World War II, before you entered the service?
PS: I was staying with my grandfather in a place called Oleander, Alabama. It’s a rural, country community twelve miles south of the parkway in Huntsville, between Huntsville and Arab on a farm with my grandfather and I was taking care of him. Me and him lived together. His wife, my grandmother, had died and they sent me over to take care of him.
CA: So, that’s your, your mother’s father—?
PS: Yeah.
CA: — you were staying with?
PS: Yeah.
CA: Okay. And you were just helping him out on, on his land there?
PS: Well, yeah. And taking care of him, you know.
CA: Um- hm. Okay. Did you have any other family members who entered the military at that time?
PS: Yeah, my brother was drafted in the Navy and my brother- in- law had been in the Army about five years when the war broke out.
CA: Well, when did you join?
PS: I joined the nineteenth of May of ’ 44.
CA: And you joined the Merchant Marine then?
PS: Yeah, I joined the, they called it the, the Maritime Service and they sent you to training and when you graduated training you become a Merchant Marine and you shipped out on a ship at that time.
CA: Is there any reason you wanted to be in the Merchant Marine?
PS: Well, I’d tried all the other services and that was the only thing I could get in.
CA: So you were just eager to serve then.
PS: Yeah, I was eager to serve, patriotic and that was the only thing I could get in, so I took it.
CA: Okay. And you were, ah, fifteen at the time?
PS: Yeah. I’d just turned fifteen.
CA: Well, did you, you said that you had to go through some training in the Merchant Marines, did you—
PS: Yeah.
CA: — did you go through that training?
PS: Oh, yeah.
CA: Did you? PS: I, I completed the training.
CA: Okay.
PS: And went aboard a ship.
CA: Do you remember where the training took place?
PS: Yeah. Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, New York.
CA: Well, what kind of things did they, did you learn in boot camp? Did you, ah—
PS: All of seamanship, same as the Navy and the Coast Guard and all. It was all basically the same thing.
CA: Yeah.
PS: Just how to serve on board a ship, you know.
CA: Um- hm. Did you have a specialization? Did you have a job that you did?
PS: I was, I was a seaman. Just a basic seaman.
CA: You, did you actually ship out with the Merchant Marine after that?
PS: Yeah, I shipped out. I went to the North Atlantic, three days out of New York.
CA: Now, you were telling me the other day that your mother got the Red Cross to take you out of the Merchant Marine.
PS: Yeah.
CA: Could you tell me about that a little bit?
PS: Yeah. At that particular time in the early part of ’ 44 the U—, German U- boats was sinking most every ship that left out of New York. There was so many being sunk that she went to the Red Cross and, and got me out.
CA: So did they send a, did they send a man to the ship to get you off the ship?
PS: Yeah. My, my ship, that I was on was sunk by a German U- boat and I was picked up and sent back to Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach and, ah, that’s where the Red Cross found me and, and got me a discharge and sent me on my way back home. Bought me a train ticket and put me on a train.
CA: So, you, you went back to your, your mother; is that who you went back to?
PS: Yeah.
CA: Okay. Ah—
PS: And then very shortly after that I went back in the Coast Guard; I got in the Coast Guard.